Red and Grey
by Kulkum
Summary: Judy knows that Nick is keeping a secret. She'll find that she isn't at all ready to know what it is. (Romance, Comedy, Drama) New Years Special! Two parts.
1. Blinders

" _Of course, nothing could exist between them. He was hardly even her friend. His rough mannerisms and predatory ways reminded her of this, even if sometimes that intense golden stare caused her heart to quicken and the feminine cleft between her thighs to grow slick with unholy desires…"_

Catelyn Cottonburrow _  
Red and Grey_

December

Six Days Until New Year

Judy was sure that Nick kept secrets from her.

She might have been a bunny from the country and still relatively new to having a fox for a friend and partner, but that didn't mean she expected him not to have secrets. Nick had been a street hustler for two decades. When he had poked fun at her, telling her that he had been doing this since before she was born, he had almost been right. While he revealed more to her with every conversation they had, be it simple personality quirks or secrets of the less-than-reputable side of Zootopia, she held no illusions that he told her everything about his past. And she was fine with that.

It was when she knew he was intentionally and actively hiding something, something that she had directly asked him about, that she felt a little hurt and worried.

It had started two days before. Midway through the day, while on patrol, he received a call from Finnick. The call seemed normal enough, certainly nothing to rouse more than a mild curiosity when there was mention of a 'package' and that Nick would be dropping by to pick it up after work. He evaded her questions, though she only asked a few. Trust meant that she didn't have to wonder what he could be doing that would require him to spend his lunch break alone going to pick up a mysterious package from his old hustling partner.

Then he had called in sick instead of returning to work.

"Yeah, sorry Carrots," he'd said, sounding drained and weak even through the phone. "It just hit me when I was on my way back. Dizzy spell, nausea, the whole nine yards."

"Do you need to see a doctor?" she had pressed, curious as much as concerned, and not looking forward to the rest of the day behind a desk without her partner. "Should I stop by and check on you later? Is there anything you need?"

"Nah, I'll be fine," came his reply, a reply that was a little too fast for her liking. "I'll just sleep it off and hopefully be back in it by tomorrow. I'll give you a call in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, then shrugged it off as she pulled the cruiser into the ZPD lot. "Talk to you soon, Slick."

But he didn't call her the next morning and he didn't come into work. She had to learn from Bogo on arrival that she would be on parking duty because of her lack of proper backup, which put her in a foul mood for the better part of the morning. By the time lunch rolled around, that foul mood had turned to one of worry. Why wouldn't he have called her? She knew he was a headstrong, independent fox who was used to handling things on his own. While that had not been a problem in their partnership or friendship before, she had never known him to get sick, either. It worried her, made her wonder if there was some connection to this mysterious package he had gone to get from Finnick and his odd disappearance. More than anything else, it was the fact that he didn't pick up her second attempt to call that had her driving her little Meter Maid Mobile to his apartment.

Standing in front of his door as she had done at least half a dozen times before, her ears were perked around the brim of the meter maid hat that she was being forced to wear as she raised her paw to knock. She paused at the odd masculine grunting sounds that barely penetrated the heavy wood, filtering through with just enough volume to have her paw pausing and her nose twitching as she strained to hear. Before she knew it, her ear was pressed against the surface as she picked up little sounds here and there. An oddly wet, meaty, repetitive sound was the most obvious to her sensitive ears, along with what she could have sworn was the sound of a page turning at one point. The little tingle that ran down her back and ended with her tail hiking up was not alien to her, but it was the first hint that led to understanding.

 _Is he…?_

She wasn't even sure why she knocked. Once she had, she instantly regretted it. If he was… doing _that_ , then she should have just left and been done with it. What did she care if he was… doing _that_?

 _I should leave. Maybe he didn't hear me. I can just leave and forget this ever happened._

"Nick? Are you alright?"

Even the stern internal voice wasn't enough to have her moving away as she heard him curse, "Sweet Fox Jesus," followed by the sound of a book slapping closed and scrambling for what she assumed were his pants. "Come on, come on, where are you. Just a minute!"

More shuffling, more cursing, a thump, and a few steps later, the door opened to her flustered and shirtless partner. "Hey, Carrots! What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

She had never seen him in a sexual light before. She might even admit that she hardly saw him as a male. He was her best friend, her partner, occasional drinking buddy, teller of bad jokes, and the mammal she trusted most in all Zootopia and beyond. Beyond that, he was a fox, not a bunny so the idea of something beyond that close friendship never crossed her mind. But the wave of scent - the humid, musky scent of aroused male fox - that washed over her when the door opened blew those innocent ideals out of her mind. That combined with the fact that she had never seen quite so much of the slim but well-toned fox had her blushing from toe to ear-tip as he put on his best charming grin and leaned his elbow high against the door frame to keep her from seeing inside of the apartment. This also had the effect of making him look taller, lengthening his body and exposing the fact that the front of his quickly thrown on pants was still clearly tented. Her mouth felt dry and her normally very comfortable uniform felt entirely too tight.

She was at a loss for words for a long moment, mostly because of the heat that bloomed in her lower belly and spread through the rest of her body like a wildfire as she desperately tried not to follow the love trail of cream colored fur to the bulge in his khakis. "I… you… I… should… Um…"

Maybe it was her lacking powers of speech. Or maybe it was the fact that she was standing at his door with her fists balled at her sides, blushing furiously with eyes that refused to meet his. Whatever it was, he seemed to understand clearly that he had been caught in the act and cleared his throat as he turned his eyes away and stared at the far wall for a long moment. It was the longest silence between them that she could remember since they had become partners, one which she decided to break herself as she herself tried to escape the awkward situation.

"I should, you know, get back to work," she said, backing away from the door and giving him a little 'gotta go get 'em' fist pump. "Make the world a better place."

Then what that fist pump mimicked seemed to strike them both, making him find a tiny spot of dirt on the doorframe increasingly interesting while she turned quickly on one foot and marched down the hall with her ears pinned down and back stiffened by absolute mortification.

"See you tomorrow, Carrots," she heard him call, receiving a squeaked reply from her as she quickened her pace, all but jumping down the flight of stairs before she made a dash for the Meter Maid Mobile.

She wasted no time in starting the tiny vehicle up, desperately wishing it could move faster so she could put some distance between herself and what had just been burned into her mind. She made it two blocks away before she found a nice, quiet corner to park on and shoved the vehicle into park a little harder than she needed to. She slumped forward so her forehead rested on the dash, knocking the hat off as she closed her eyes.

"Why did you knock? You knew. You _knew_ what he was doing, so why did you knock, you stupid bunny?"

Of course, she asked that simple question to avoid asking the more important and much less comfortable ones. Such as, why did she still feel like there was a fire between her legs, and why had her partner smelled so damned good?

And most important, why had the smell of her partner started that fire to begin with?

" _It wasn't as if he planned to ravish her. Seeing her fur, wet and glowing in the moonlight, almost stripped him of his will. He had become a creature consumed by passion, a being of lust rather than one of reason. She denied it even now, even with the truth staring them both in the muzzle, but her passion was the mate to his own. He had to have her, had to make her see that she could have him, or the fires of passion would consume them both."_

Catelyn Cottonburrow _  
Red and Grey_

December

Four Days Until New Year

She had almost wished he wouldn't return to work the next day. The embarrassment was still too fresh in her mind, along with the lingering memory of the scent that had haunted her the night before. She was easily able to convince herself that her reaction to his scent was superficial. The unexpected exposure to his sexuality had caused a spike in her own and she simply needed a little time to sort it out so things could get back to normal. It wasn't like she was attracted to him, it was just that bunnies tended to be hypersensitive to sexual activity. Catching him… doing what he had been doing caught her by surprise, throwing her body and mind into a state where everything could be seen as sexual. It could have happened to anyone.

She repeated it in her mind through the morning briefing, while sitting next to him after a somewhat awkward morning greeting. And through the ribbing that other cops gave Nick for being absent for two days. And through their walk to the cruiser. It did help that his scent seemed absent, allowing the mantra running through her mind to stick, and preventing the disappointment in the absence from lingering as they started their patrol.

"Listen," he said, drawing her gaze to him when they stopped at a red light. He was looking as half organized as ever. His tie was partly down from an open collar, allowing the thicker fur around his neck to ruffle over it even though the uniform was clean and pressed with the brass polished to a high shine. All in all, he managed to make it clear that he was proud to be in that uniform without seeming to have changed all that much from the fox who walked the streets looking for another hustle. She adored the way he looked in the dark blue and brass. In a completely non-sexual, 'he's my partner and best friend' sort of way, of course. "About yesterday…"

"It's fine!" she said, much too quickly and winced instantly afterward. Releasing a slow breath, she pulled the cruiser over to the curb and shifted into park before she leaned back in her seat and looked across at him. He looked at her, one dark brow quirked upward as he waited for her to say something, or tried to decide what to say himself. She swallowed once before she took the torch herself. "It's fine, Nick. It's my fault. I shouldn't have bothered you at home like that without calling first."

"We've never had to call to visit before, Fluff, and I don't want to start now," he chided, shaking his head as his ears dipped back. He waved one paw between them in a noncommittal gesture. "It was just bad timing on both our parts. Sorry you had to - you know - catch me jacking off, but I am a male after all. Last time I checked, it's pretty normal for anyone with a penis."

She was right on the edge of believing that her ears could catch fire at the blunt talk before she saw the quirk of a grin on his muzzle. He was teasing her! And the normality of that teasing eased her mind so that she almost sank into the seat with relief.

 _Okay, we can get past this. I should joke back, let everything go back to normal. You can do this, Judy. Strike up a conversation._

"Well, at least I didn't interrupt you with a vixen," she said, forcing cheer into her voice as she leaned over to sock him in the arm lightly. "This way at least we don't have to explain why your partner is knocking on your door unannounced. I hear vixens are territorial. Though none of the lady-foxes you hook up with in the future would have reason to be jealous of me. It's not like you're a bunny."

She felt good. Things were back on track now! The comfort of that gave her a warm feeling right down into her belly as she glanced out the window at a passing car before she turned her eyes back to her partner. That warm feeling dropped into her gut like a brick when she saw the pain in those green eyes. Normally full of affection and bright with humor or - at worst - sparkling sarcastic humor, the dull hurt and distant anger caught her completely off guard. Then, as sudden as it was shocking, a smirk curved the fox's lips, but the normal sarcastic humor failed to reach his eyes. "I'm just not cute enough to be a bunny," he said, then turned his eyes out to the street, resting his muzzle on his paw. "Let's get going. We're not getting paid to sit here chatting about mistakes."

What had she said? What had she done? Was there some vixen he was brooding over and she had stumbled over it without knowing? Someone who had hurt him?

"Nick, I…"

"Let's just go, Carrots."

Not really sure what to say, she did what he said. Pulling away from the curb, they continued their patrol in the most oppressive silence she could remember. She would just have to do her best to cheer him up. Whatever had caused his mood wouldn't last long, and then everything would go back to normal. She was sure of it.

" _It wasn't like she didn't understand him. He was a fox. She was a bunny. He saw her as prey. Weak, helpless, and small. His claims of passion fell on deaf ears because she understood his nature. He wanted to chase her, conquer her, devour her innocence to prove his worth as a fox. The hunger of male to female in sun-gold eyes was an illusion. And if she ignored him long enough, maybe they could focus on solving this mystery. Everything would go back to normal…"_

Catelyn Cottonburrow _  
Red and Grey_

December

Two Days Until New Year

Things didn't go back to normal. For two days, his mood only seemed to darken until it was impossible to ignore it. His tail hung low half the time, his ears just never stayed erect even when he was obviously trying, and those bright green eyes that she adored were constantly shadowed by hints of sadness. Worse yet, she was doing nothing at all to help it. She could see that he was trying, just like she was. They still chatted, he still told mostly bad jokes that she either laughed at or rolled her eyes at, and they did their job as cops without losing the connection that made them so damn good at it. From the outside looking in, she was sure that most mammals had no idea that anything was wrong at all.

But she knew. And it only seemed to get worse. He wasn't as talkative and even seemed irritable when she tried to strike up a conversation. And today, as the slow day wore down to its end, he had given her an obvious excuse for not being able to come with her when they were invited to join the pre-New Year's celebration for those officers that would be working on New Year's Day.

It had been the final straw for her and led to the first real fight between them since the press conference.

"Fine," she told him, once they were out of earshot of the other officers getting ready to leave for the party. He didn't stop walking even when she hopped up beside him to keep pace. "You go home and be an ass. I'm still going to the party. I'm not going to let _your_ mood ruin _my_ New Year. Especially when you won't even tell me what's wrong!"

"I never said you couldn't go to the damned party," he growled in reply, increasing his pace in an attempt to put distance between them. While they were well beyond the point where his growling could frighten her, it still surprised and hurt her slightly. Which only made her anger rise when he continued. "You can't solve this, Carrots. You… You just can't."

"How do you know I can't if you won't even talk to me about it?" she yelled after him once he walked beyond the parking lot. She stomped her foot when he simply waved his paw dismissively without looking back, trudging towards the metro-rail station with flat ears and a tail that literally dragged across the ground it hung so low. Her foot was soon thumping against the ground rapidly as she clenched her paws. "Damn it!"

Despite what she told him, she knew that she wouldn't be able to go to the party now. Even if there was a chance that friends, comrades-in-arms, and drinks would allow her a chance to relax, she couldn't get a single fact out of her head.

It had all started when Finnick had called Nick about a package.

When you really wanted to find someone was when it would take forever to find them. She had learned this lesson when she had returned to Zootopia and had gone looking for Nick. Now, the distinct feeling of déjà-vu washed over her when she drove the streets of Savanna Central looking for the same friend. The anger from the argument before had lingered for all of fifteen minutes into the drive before it had become a sinking feeling of guilt. If something was wrong with him, yelling at him and promising that she could have fun without him had not been the best course of action. The fact that she was starting to draw parallels in watching him walk away tonight and watching him walk away after her blunder at the press conference during the Night Howler case was not helping. She hadn't seen him for months after that, and the very idea that she would lose him for that long again - or even worse, forever - made her chest ache and her stomach turn.

 _Come_ on _Finnick! Where are you?_ she wondered to herself, tapping her paws anxiously on the steering wheel of the cruiser until she spotted the van and slammed on the breaks. _There!_

She didn't even bother to park the cruiser before she jumped out and ran up to the back of the van, which was parked as it often was in an alley with the rear doors facing the main road. She knocked, far less uneasily than she had the first time until one of the doors swung open to the shorts wearing, sandy-furred fox with huge ears and annoyed eyes. At least this time, he wasn't wielding a bat in his free paw.

"Well, Officer Hopps," he said in that surprisingly deep voice, his gaze instantly slipping behind and to either side of her. "Not traveling with Nick tonight?"

"We had a fight," she said before she even gave it thought, then waved her paws to cut him off when he raised a curious eyebrow. "It doesn't matter. You had a package for him, and since he went to get it, he's been acting strange. I don't even know if it's related to that or… something else that happened, but I need to find out what's going on because he won't talk to me."

"'Something else?'" he questioned as he dropped into a crouch on the edge of the van bed while looking at her with curious eyes. There was no doubt in her mind that the eyes of the nocturnal predator could see the heat rush up her ears even in the dim twilight, and it only made the blush run deeper as she averted her eyes. Then his sharp muzzle pulled into a grin as he motioned to her with one claw. "You and Wilde didn't… you know, fool around and then get into a fight, did you?"

"No!" she protested, a surprised titter of laughter escaping her before she could stop it. The fact that the sound was a little panicked only meant that he had caught her off guard and the emphatic waving of her paws was just her way of making sure that Finnick understood that he was mistaken. "Nick doesn't see me that way! Why would you even think that?"

"Why?" he hummed, his eyes silently considering her for a moment before he gave a slow shrug and a dismissive twitch of one large ear. "Forget it. That explains some things. Look, officer: Nick asked me to acquire a rare item for him, all perfectly legal like. But because he asked me as a friend, I can't just tell you because you want to know."

Frustration bubbled until she released a scream that she muffled by keeping her muzzle shut as she turned to walk away. She didn't return to the cruiser, though. She paced, stewed, and thought, aware that she was being watched the entire time by the stoic-faced fox. Her steps paused as she turned back to look at him, her arms folded over her chest as she returned his gaze evenly. "I want one."

That same large ear twitched again, one brow raising as he jumped down from the bed of the van and leaned against the bumper with his own arms crossed. "You want one what?"

"Whatever it was you got for Nick. I want one," she repeated, returning to stand in front of the shorter mammal with her ears high and paws on her hips. "I'll pay the same price. You're a business man. Can you get it or not?"

"Five hundred bucks."

"Five hundred!" she exclaimed in horror, her attempt at authority and savvy falling apart when the price struck her. "That's robbery! Is that what Nick paid?"

"Of course not," then he shrugged easily as a predatory grin crept up his muzzle. "But like I said, it was a rare item. Acquiring a second one would be twice as hard, so the price goes up. The question is, are you willing to pay?"

"So, you think it has something to do with whatever is wrong with him?" she questioned, the idea of finding that much free money a daunting one on her ZPD paycheck.

"I never said that," the small fox reminded her, making her groan and drop her face into her paws for a second. It _had_ to have something to do with it.

"Fine," she snapped, glaring at him as she drew herself up and resigned herself to living off bagged lunches, noodle soup, and no coffee for the foreseeable future. She may also have to wheedle around being late on her rent, but she was sure she would survive. "I'll pay it. Start acquiring and I'll get you the money. I have to know what's wrong with Nick."

If she had not been so irritated and stressed, she might have noticed the slight softening around the aged hustler's eyes when she said it. But right then he looked more like a weasel than a fox (and how speciest was that?).

"Wait here then," he said, and she frowned when he climbed up into the back of the van, slamming the door in her face. He appeared again a minute later with a small package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with rope twine. Her eyes widened when he held it out to her. "I actually figured you might come by looking for one of your own. And I lied. I know damn well this played a part in whatever's happened between you two in the past few days."

Excitement to finally know what was going on overcame any annoyance she had at being tricked and the crushing weight of a five hundred Buck debt. She reached forward, taking the edges of the book-shaped package in her paws, only to find him keeping his grip on it from his end. She looked up and met a pair of serious brown eyes.

"Don't open this until you get home," he warned her, his expression even more serious than it normally was. "You'll know why once you get there. Got it?"

"Yeah," she said, looking down at the package in confusion for a moment before she nodded. "Got it. I'll get you the money soon. Tomorrow, if I see you then."

"You're a good bunny, Judy," he commented as he released the package, watching her draw it to her chest and hold it there with both paws. "When Nick came back after he met you, he wasn't the same. He smiled the same, talked the same, even acted the same at first. But I could see that none of it reached his eyes like before. The hustle wasn't in him anymore, like something in his heart had been ripped out and stepped on. Dumb fox spent most days sitting under that bridge, staring at that stupid pen. I never asked him about it, and he never talked about it, but I could see that he had changed. Heartbreak changes mammals like him more than he'd like to admit."

 _So, there was a vixen,_ she thought, frowning as she looked down at the package with a sharp twinge of pain in her chest that could only have been regret. She regretted the argument, after all. Regretted that they had argued and she had let it go as far as she had, not knowing that his heart was broken. _I should have…_

"If you're smart enough to fix it this time like you did last time," he continued, drawing her gaze back to him when he climbed into the rear of the van again, "consider it a gift. To _Nick,_ not _you._ I don't need a reputation of giving things to cops for free, no matter how cute they are."

With that final poke, which only made her grin slightly because of his own status as one of the 'cute,' he slammed the door and left her to stare down at the package in silent, personal, and misunderstood sorrow.

" _Impossible! Insane! Morally wrong and deeply depraved! She had lost her mind, to even think of him in such a way. It was so wrong, the way she longed to be closer to him. His teeth were sharp and deadly, his claws long and dangerous. His muzzle was too narrow, his paws too large, his fur not silky enough for her liking. He frightened her. She feared that he would break her if she gave herself to the golden eyes that glowed at her in the dark, if she surrendered her body to the breath that stirred against her neck. There were so many things about him that terrified her, yet he had saved her. One little kiss couldn't hurt, could it?"_

Catelyn Cottonburrow _  
Red and Grey_

December

New Year's Eve

9:30am

Sitting on the bed with the package in front of her made her feel like a bit of a coward. She had no idea what to expect, beyond the fact that it felt like a book of some kind. There was a feeling of foreboding; like she was about to pry into some deep dark secret of Nick's past. Or maybe learn something about him that she would rather not know. Or it could be something related to whoever had broken his heart recently. That had to be the cause of his sudden shift in mood, after all. It hurt her a bit: the fact that he hadn't told her, his partner, about his being in a relationship. Not the fact that he was in one. But still, she hesitated to open it now that she had the opportunity, even if the delay the night before hadn't been entirely welcome.

The call from Clawhauser caught her off guard when her only real desire had been to get home, but she honestly had not had the heart to deny the excitable cheetah when he begged her to go out as promised. Her fellow officers wanted one of the newest and most liked members of the force to go with them, and so she had relented. Somehow, she even managed to put on a cheerful face and join in the drinking and games, even if the chosen bar was a bit of a dive and the drinks were terrible. When questions came about Nick and his absence, she evaded with half answers like 'He had plans' or 'I'm not sure, but he's not having as much fun as we are!' By the end of the night, when she finally stumbled into her apartment with a light buzz still lingering on the edges of her tired mind, leaving the package on the desk and stumbling into bed took all that was left of her energy.

It was well into the morning, much later than she normally woke up, before she finally reached to pull the twine bow free and opened the package. The paper opened easily, and the dark rear panel of a book stared at her:

 _Zootopia: Early 1920s. A city divided, where the tension between species teeters on the edge of all-out war. Ceres Longears is a reporter looking for the truth behind a conspiracy to increase the gulf between predator and prey. After a near-death experience drives her into the arms of a brash and dangerous private eye, Renard Flame, can the two of them find the truth? And can they, against all odds, find the passion that will heal not only their city... but their hearts?_

"A romance novel?" she muttered, a confused frown forming at the title of _The_ _Red and Grey_ before she flipped the book to look at the cover.

She had never before experienced surprise so sudden and sharp that it struck her like a blow to the gut, but she did when she saw the image on the cover of the novel. Surprise was too gentle a word, really. Shock. The image of the half-naked Red Fox, with green eyes - No wait, they were golden - golden eyes staring down at the form of the grey bunny with torn clothing in his arms was enough to have the book slipping from her fingers and slapping down onto the bed. The quickening of her heart was just a sign of that surprise, obviously, even if it only increased when she reached down and picked the book up again.

 _This?_ This _is what Nick ran off in the middle of a work day and called in sick for?_

It was silly. It made no sense at all. She even laughed a little when she opened the book and started to read. At first, she thought it was a joke on Finnick's part. It was way to cliché from page one, starting on a stormy night with the heroine standing under a streetlight while waiting for a contact who had 'vital information' on the rising political unrest in the city. The dialog was cheesy, dire threats were issued (the words 'dire threats' were actually on page two, which had her laughing out loud) and there was a chase scene within the first few pages. Ceres was already trying to avoid shadowy figures, whose faces she hadn't seen - of course - when she was forced to jump off a bridge to avoid being hit by an oncoming car. And the water was black and icy because all water was black and icy on rainy nights in the city.

With a paw held up to her muzzle to keep herself from laughing too loud, which would lead to questions from her noisy and easily disturbed neighbors, she continued to read the novel. It wasn't until the fox, Renard Flame, was introduced that she stopped laughing and was gradually pulled into the book. The story was much more interesting once the dashing private eye pulled the half-drowned bunny from the water and carried her to his waiting car. From there, the course of the book was predictable but still managed to enthrall her. Exactly what anyone would expect from a fox and a bunny. Antagonism. Mistrust. Outright and undisguised specism from the bunny, which rose the first inkling of anger from Judy as she continued to read. What had started out as cliché and silly, and in most ways still was, did contain a deep subplot as the relationship between the bunny and fox started to develop into romance.

It wasn't a slow understanding, either. It was brutally hard on both characters. His desire was made clear first in an intense scene where the two were forced to share a single bed hotel room and he had just blurted out the fact that he wanted her. The fact that Judy felt a little tingle slither down the length of her spine, her tail twitching in excitement at the prospect of the fox ravishing the bunny, was just a result of a well-written scene. Though she was disappointed when Ceres denied him, rather pointedly pulling their species into it, her own desire soon followed suit. The bunny's desire was far less forward. She kept it to herself, desired him from a distance and continued to refuse his advances.

She had no idea how long she sat in bed, flipping from page to page as she was more and more engrossed in the romance. She managed to eat once, for the first time not realizing how terrible frozen carrot meals were as she ate absently without putting the book down for even a second. More than once, she wanted to scream at the two idiots in the book to just kiss already! It didn't matter that he was a fox and she a bunny. If they would both stop being so stubborn and blind, they could enjoy each other! Her frustration grew when fear became the focus of the reason.

Ceres was afraid of his claws. Afraid he would bite her. Afraid he would be too big. Afraid his predatory instincts would cause him to attack her. Every time the word afraid or fear came into the story it brought what was almost a perfectly hot moment to a grinding halt. It reached the point that Judy almost flung the book across the room as she drew near to the end and they still hadn't so much as kissed.

Then it happened. Suddenly and with such intensity that she had to bite the back of her paw to keep from crying out in glee:

" _I'm tired of waiting for you, Ceres," he said, his gravelly voice rolling across her fur like sin. "You fight for the unity of our species, but you won't even admit what's in our hearts. Until you can, I have to find my own way without you."_

" _No, stop! Don't leave me!" She wailed the words, rushing to his side and gripping his paw to drag his gaze to hers. Tears shone as brightly as the passion in his eyes when he turned back to her. "I don't want you to go. I do love you. Damn you, Renard, I love you!"_

 _The kiss was like water on the surface of the sun. The eruption of energy between the two when their muzzles met and locked in the forbidden embrace of need was explosive…_

She released a little squeal of delight when she dropped back onto the bed with the book held in both paws above her to she could keep reading. Delighted that they had finally kissed, she eagerly continued to read and found that the kiss wasn't the end of it. He picked her up, carried her into the bedroom (they were in her house at the time) and clothing was removed one piece at a time. Even if the wording used was almost pornographic at times, way too flowery in others, and downright corny with things like 'feminine cleft' and 'rock-hard foxhood,' the love of the fox was obvious.

He absolutely adored her. Every thought in his mind and every word written for him was of love and her beauty and how perfect she was. 'His heart was a drum at the sight of her bare fur.' 'Her fur was so splendidly soft.' 'Her body a subtle curve that his paws wanted to follow forever.' 'Her bunny cunny was delicious.' That last part was a bit graphic for her, not to mention poorly worded, but the spirit of it remained the same. He _loved_ her for her differences.

But just the fox. Ceres, who had annoyed Judy in multiple parts of the story already, continued to be a monumental moron in her eyes. Even unclothed, naked in bed with a fox that clearly adored her, she was afraid. Even after confessing her love for him, she tried to avoid every aspect of him that made him different from her, made him a fox. 'She shied away from the touch of his claws.' 'His teeth made her nose twitch with momentary horror.' 'His predatory eyes made her want to flee as he covered her.' 'The first sight of his rock-hard foxhood.' 'The knot caught her off guard, and she panicked.'

The description of the knot caught Judy completely off guard, too. She had never heard of such a thing, but then sexual education tended to be a species-to-species affair. If nothing else, the description of being joined with a lover in such an intimate way was thrilling to her. It was when this aspect of Renard's sexuality was detailed that the tingle between her thighs became an aching hunger that had her rolling onto her belly and placed the book on a pillow so she could read more easily. Comfort was important, after all. The fact that it allowed one paw to slip under her shirt so it could slide up and down her belly in lazy strokes had nothing to do with it as she turned to the next page with the other paw. Her tail twitched in anticipation.

To Judy's dismay, only when Renard soothed her with sweet whispers and promised only to do it if she would allow did she relax. And then she begged him not to knot her! That was… Cruel! She didn't even try to take it before she denied him. Coward.

But the fox's restraint was sooo hot!

 _His need to please her overpowered the need to fill her with his hot canine knot, even if it ached with every thrust into the treasure between her thighs. The ache was worth the price, he knew. The pleasure of her silken passage wrapped around his aching foxhood was…_

"Mph," she mumbled as she continued to read, pleasure shooting through her from the finger that stroked steadily over the damp folds of her sex. She gave up any pretext and stopped fooling herself into believing that the idea of a fox on top of a bunny wasn't one of the hottest ideas she'd ever encountered in her life. At least now, when they were lost in pleasure, the idiot bunny had no complaints. Her hips hiked up as she pressed her cheek into the bed with her eyes facing the open book, freeing her other paw as Renard started to take his lover faster. When he growled, Judy moaned for Ceres and slipped the second paw into her panties. One silky finger circling the nub of her clit as the action on the page grew more intense, another quickly stroking the mouth of her sex as the juices quickly soaked both paw and panties. Her pace quickened as Renard leaned over his new lover, the desire burning like suns in his golden eyes as...

The page ended, mid-sentence - when the ache of need had become a hum of pleasure in her blood - had her muffling a cry of frustration into the mattress before she closed her eyes and simply imagined the fox over her. Soaking wet and hot all under her fur, the image of the fox leaning over her back came as two fingers slipped past the outer lips and into the heat of her body. This time, the cry was pure pleasure as she pumped them into her body in time with the thrusts of her phantom fox. She saw him clearly behind closed eyes. His fur was carrot orange instead of near red. That long and narrow muzzle was curved into roguish grin of pleasure rather than the stoic expression of a hardened detective.

Her own paws had never been able to bring her to climax so quickly before, but the moment her dream lover opened his eyes and emerald green burned down at her with hunger and passion, she came. Gasping cries that she couldn't muffle into the mattress without suffocating filled the room as the need and ache became an intense outpouring of pleasure centered between her legs. Inner muscles tightened on fingers that pressed deeper, trying to squeeze down around what her mind wanted desperately to be the throbbing length of Nick's arousal. Even the pleasure of the act, which had her hips up and her toes curling with every rock of her butt towards her imaginary fox, wasn't enough. Knowing he wasn't there was enough to tear his name from her throat in a frustrated cry of need that her own fingers wouldn't be able to satisfy.

" _Nick!"_

8:00pm

Four Hours To New Year

"Who do you think 'Nick' is?"

"That's her partner, idiot. We've met him before."

"It can't be _that_ Nick. He's a fox."

 _Blind._

"So what if he is? She can't like a fox?"

 _So blind._

"You ever hear of a bunny crying out a fox's name like that?"

Swimming back to reality was a jarring thing. The memory of green eyes instead of gold was still fresh, despite her post orgasm stupor. And with it, as with every time in the past she'd brought herself to climax, her body was warm and lucid. But she wasn't relaxed, actively struggling against the afterglow as she tried to focus her mind on one single thought: she had been blind.

"Well, I bet you never saw a bunny in a police uniform, either."

"Or a fox."

"Could you two shut up for a minute?" she sighed, rolling over and lying on her back with one arm resting over her eyes. "I'm trying to think."

"Sure thing."

"What does she need to think about?"

"How should I know?! She said be quiet, so shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"No, I mean shut up because she asked up to be quiet!"

"Oh, right. Sorry, neighbor."

Then they did shut up, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Thoughts that were as confused as they were clear. Clear because now it was impossible not to see Nick in this light she had refused to see before. She remembered a dozen times since he became her partner when his quick grin had caused her heart to beat faster. A dozen more times when an accidental brush of paws had caused her blood to warm and her tail to twitch. She knew why she loved it when he took off his sunglasses so she could see beautiful green eyes focused on her. And more clearly, because it had only happened a few days before, she remembered her reaction to the scent of his arousal. Embarrassment had given her an excuse to brush away her quick and intense desire when exposed to it, but…

She opened her eyes to find the book that had fallen closed during her Nick induced fit of passion, snatching it up and sitting upright as she looked down at it. He requested this from Finnick and then had disappeared from work. That meant her visit to his apartment had come right as he was reading it, and she had found him masturbating. It wasn't hard to put two and two together, and the little skip in her chest was nothing short of delight. Her partner and best friend, whose dream image alone had just blown her mind, had feelings for her. It explained everything! His interest in the book, his disappearance, his sudden sexual appetite, his odd behavior over the last few days. It wasn't some vixen who had broken his heart!

"Oh, god."

" _Though none of the lady-foxes you hook up with in the future would have reason to be jealous of me. It's not like you're a bunny."_

"Oh no," she whispered, the book slipping from numb fingers to land on the floor with a thump as she jumped out of bed.

" _He smiled the same, talked the same, even acted the same at first. But I could see that none of it reached his eyes like before. The hustle wasn't in him anymore…"_

"Hey, what's going on? You going somewhere?"

"Yeah, you finished thinking?"

Quickly pulling on a pair of jeans, she felt a sinking pain deep down in her guts. A pain that she had only felt once before; when she had made the biggest mistake of her life and it had almost cost her the best friend she would ever have.

"… _like something in his heart had been ripped out and stepped on."_

"I'm going to see Nick," she said, as much to herself as to her curious neighbors as she threw the door open. "I have to fix this."


	2. Red and Grey

Part 2

" _There was something magical about her. Something sexual, but sweetly so. Sweet in a way that made him want to lick at the tips of her ears just for a taste and sexual in a way that made him not wish to stop until his tongue was lapping at the feminine core of that sweetness. Such thoughts made him wonder what her voice would be like when it cried his name. And such a question had him understanding that he had to have her. Species be damned, he wanted Ceres for his own."_

Catelyn Cottonburrow _  
Red and Grey_

10:00pm

Two Hours to New Year

Thinking about the monumental ass he had been over the past few days was one way to get past the anger of the their little fight the night before. And Nick knew that the naked fox staring back at him through the bathroom mirror _was_ being an ass. He had intentionally been one on multiple occasions in his hustling days, even at moments as important as his first meeting with Judy. He simply hadn't been able to stop himself. Every time she tried to act like everything was normal when it clearly was not, it made him angry. Angry because she didn't even know _why_ there was tension between them.

Oh, he could see that much clearly. Since becoming partners, they spent more time together than apart. They worked long days together, which he knew as both the hardest work he had ever done and the best times of his life because he was with her. They often shared meals after work and relived the more interesting moments of the day through comfortable chats. Even on their days off, he would often find himself roped into showing her the sights of the city that she still hadn't seen. He had even been to visit her family in Bunnyburrow once, where she had been all too eager to show off her new partner and best friend.

But that was all he was. Her friend. There was no wall to the 'friend zone' quite as massive and impassible as the one built between species, and she had made this completely clear with her 'It's not like you're a bunny" comment. Not that he blamed her, at least not intellectually. It wasn't like there was a club of foxes and bunnies than ran around proclaiming their love for each other. In fact, it wasn't like there were many foxes and bunnies that could even count themselves as friends. That did not stop the fact that her words had been like a punch to the throat, and his partner could punch hard. The lack of cruelty intended by the words, which had come from someone trying to cheer him up, almost made it worse rather than better. The idea had simply never crossed her mind.

 _You should let it go,_ he told himself, paws resting on the sink in the still steamy bathroom as he stared at the blurred image of himself. Reaching up, he angrily swiped the mist from the mirror so he could look into his own eyes. Eyes that were haunted and hurt and angry. It was never a good sign when he could see these things in his own eyes. _Let it go, focus on letting things go back to normal. You'll get over it, Wilde._

He imagined he might, in time. Then his rebellious mind reminded him that someday, maybe someday soon, she would find herself a buck. His mind told him that it would be a slow, torturous process. She would date this buck while focusing on her career, and over time she would spend less time with him for the sake of spending more with this phantom rabbit. She would talk about him while they worked, complain about him while they ate lunch, come to work looking blushy and satisfied after a long night doing what bunnies did best, and excuse herself from drinks or dinner with her partner because she needed to get home. And one day she would come to work positively glowing with happiness, eager to share the good news with her best friend and show off the sparkling ring. The wedding would be beautiful, of course. A real Hopps family moment, where their oddball cop daughter finally settled down with a good buck and started a family. Nick might even be an usher or something else equally token. He would even smile while she walked down the aisle.

While he slowly bled to death inside.

"Not on your life, Wilde," he said, feeling a bit of that bleeding begin just imagining those things and shutting it down as he drew himself up. He gave himself a hard look in the eyes. "You will not stand by and say nothing. You made it through the academy. You've faced down lions, arrested an elephant, took down a gang of insane biker mice. You can tell her that you love her."

Years as a hustler had advantages and one was having a variety of methods at his disposal to say pretty much anything. And expressions. Which was what he did as he stood away from the sink and put on one of his best hustler masks. Ears perked while his face relaxed into an easy grin, eyes lidded just a bit, and for the finishing touch a quick snap with both paws before he pointed at the mirror. Getting into the swing of it again was easy enough and he released a slow sigh as he remembered that he had worked on his various faces for two decades.

"Still got it, Wilde. Looking good. Now, about that bunny," he muttered, shaking his paws out and taking another deep breath before he slipped on his best serious and earnest expression. "I love you, Carrots. No, wait. I'm _in_ love with you, Carrots. No, damn it. Judy. I'm in love with you, J…"

The knock nearly scared him out of his fur, his paw clutching the damp fur of his chest for a moment as his expression snapped out of 'hustler ease' and into a curious annoyance. His ears pinned back for a moment when the knock came again, urgently this time. Followed by Judy's voice.

"Nick? I know you're in there," she said, her voice unsteady enough that he could hear how unusual it sounded even with a door and half a bathroom wall muffling it. His first thought was that she was still upset by the argument, which she had every reason to be. "I think you know we need to talk."

He didn't even think about it beyond a muttered "Oh, I know we do," before he was marching towards the front door with the intention of telling her exactly what he had been practicing in the mirror. The fact that his hustler mask was gone didn't matter. The fact that she had caught him off guard showing up at his front door didn't matter. The fact that he was convinced that this would just lead to rejection didn't matter. None of it mattered as he twisted the dead-bolt and swung the door open to face his partner with determination in green eyes…

"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers…"

…and not a stitch of clothing adorning his still damp, towel-ruffled, and very naked body.

The groan that escaped him may have been the most mortified sound ever to escape the fox, his paws slapping to the top of his head to pull on his ears before dragging down over his eyes. Embarrassment caused heat to rush through him, that special kind of horror that came only when one did something so completely idiotic that it was impossible to brush off as an accident, even when it was. He refused to look at her even as he moved to close the door again. He didn't have to face her reaction. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean… I just… Damn it! I'll go get dressed. You wait here, just one minute."

More than ready to be behind a closed door so he could crawl out the window, slide down the fire escape, run to the nearest taxi and take the first train to the middle of nowhere, it took him a second to realize that the door didn't budge when he tried to move it. Blinking slowly, he glanced at the door itself for the cause of the obstruction, freezing when he saw the small paw pressed against it. Dreading what it could mean ,as thoughts of her gleefully snapping pics with her phone to tease him with later filled his mind, he turned his gaze to her. She wasn't in the blushing, horrified, quick escape mode that she had been in when he had been caught with his cock in his paws a few days before. Quite the opposite, in fact. She was staring at him, right at him, with an earnest and curious look in beautiful, violet eyes. He was forced to take a surprised step back when she took one forward. And then another. And he realized that, while there was a blush running up the length of her ears, those ears were still high and quivering. And while her nose was twitching as she advanced on him, driving him back another few steps, she was the one who turned to swing the door closed and flip the lock with a decisive sound that almost made him yelp.

He considered retreating into the bathroom for a moment, though he couldn't take his eyes off her. Her behavior was unreadable, and he was a fox who prided himself on being able to read mammals. She was clearly flustered, had clearly been shocked to find him naked when he answered the door, and now seemed determined to not to turn around to face him again. But she had been staring at him boldly, had advanced into his apartment without even allowing him time to cover himself, and had locked them in together without a word. Aside from the nervous discomfort and the slow rise of hopeful excitement that would have come over any male who found himself naked in his own home with the female he loved, he was drawing a blank to explain this sudden and dramatic change in her behavior towards him.

"I heard you, through the door," she said at last and he was hard pressed not to make himself look even more foolish by reaching down to cover his sheath to hide himself from her when she finally did turn around. A little clutch in his stomach was accompanied by a sinking feeling had him reaching up to rub the back of his neck at her words.

"Just now?" he questioned, wondering if it would be possible to outrun her if he had a mad dash to lock himself in the bathroom.

"Well, that, too," she admitted, standing where she was and looking particularly adorable in blue jeans a red flannel shirt. It reminded him of what she had worn when she'd returned to Zootopia to find him, even if the shirt was darker. She reached up to tug at her ears, pulling them down to one side until they rested on her shoulder as she stroked them. That made the shy nerves shine through, becoming obvious for the first time, even if her eyes remained locked on his. "But I am talking about a few days ago, when I caught you masturbating."

It could have been the fact that she was showing her nervousness for the first time, but the admission of that didn't disturb him as it should have. The quick drop of her gaze from his when she said the word 'masturbate' was adorable. As adorable as it was surprising when he realized that the shift in her line of sight had her eyes resting on his sheath. The flush was so deep that it could be seen on the tip of her rapidly twitching nose. But she didn't stop looking. In fact, the way she was looking at him had the muscles in his belly tightening and that sheath thickening as her mouth parted for a moment before she slowly raised her eyes to his. It suddenly struck him.

"You knocked."

"I couldn't admit it to myself at the time, but I was curious. No," she said, shaking her head as she tugged on her ears again to drag them over her eyes for a moment. The way she hid her face was just so damned cute, he wanted to gobble her up where she stood. Maybe the hunger lingered in his eyes when she finally released her ears and let the raise again, because she swallowed visibly when she met them. "No more half-truths. I wanted you to open the door because I was interested. Turned on. I heard the rhythm of your paw and the grunts and moans. So, I knocked. But I wasn't ready for you. The way you smelled, the way you looked, your shorts tented right in front of me. It was like every fantasy I'd ever had about bucks was crumbled up, thrown away, and replaced with something so much more appealing. Replaced with you."

 _I'm dead,_ he thought as he watched her with wide eyes and a complete lack of intelligent retort to what she was saying. _I slipped in the shower, hit my head, and died._

"And I panicked. I denied. I buried it so deep that I didn't even know I was denying it, that I had been denying it for some time." As she continued, he was even more convinced that he was in his own private paradise when she started to move towards him. She wasn't being seductive: there was no intentional sway to her hips, no sultry looks through smoldering eyes, no tongue sliding over her soft pink lips invitingly. If this had been a scene from a book like Red and Grey, she might have done these things. But what he saw was Judy, the bunny he was paws over tail in love with, being Judy as she closed the distance between them. "After I ran away - because I realize now that I _was_ running - when I was alone, I was so turned on that I even had to lie to myself. 'Just the first time I've been exposed to the fact that he's a male, that's all. Any bunny would react that way.' Stupid, right?"

It must have been some credit to how interested he was in the story, because the touch of her paw on his belly fur came as such a surprise that he was forced to bite his lip to muffle the moan that escaped him. "Mmhm!" was his squeaked reply, the only sound he could manage when that paw traced up, his gaze following the tracks her fingers left in his damp fur as they burrowed deep enough for her tiny claws to touch the skin. Everywhere that her paw touched felt hot, making his knees weak even as his sheath filled until he became very aware of the cool air of the room on the emerging tip of his arousal. She noticed the same - stared at his growing length so openly that it only enhanced his lack of control over that increasingly excited part of his anatomy.

 _Too fast. Too fast._

"Carrots, wait," he said, trying to soften his rough voice as he reached down to cover her paw with his own, pinning it over the hard hammering of his heart. The other moved to cup her cheek, to touch her muzzle but hesitated just before making contact when his eyes were drawn to the dark claws on the tip of each finger.

 _Renard watched her flinch away, very nearly jumping back when he tried to touch her. Her eyes darted to the claws at the tips of his fingers with fascination and fear mingled, then to his paw. It was like the spirit was drained out of her, because she feared what his touch could do rather than what it would do. "Don't touch me with those," she whispered, her fear preventing her from seeing the agony in his eyes._

Withdrawing the paw slowly, he started to close it to hide his claws before she noticed how close they had been. Then the light pressure of a silky paw on the pad of his palm stopped him, drawing his gaze to her face as she looked at him with understanding in her eyes. His mouth went bone dry when she cupped the back of his much larger paw and drew it towards her muzzle, causing an electric thrill of lust to gather in his gut when that tiny pink tongue slicked out over one blunt claw slowly. It wasn't the sensation - because there was more of a tugging on the tip of his finger than anything tactile - but the act itself that had him releasing a shuttering breath when she placed a kiss on the pad of the same finger. The guile of it - followed by the innocent, questioning look she cast up at him - had the length of pulsing crimson unsheathed and at full mast before he could even think to control himself.

"I don't want to wait," she chirred softly, her nose twitching rapidly as she took another step closer to him. On taking a deliberate step in retreat, so that she wouldn't inadvertently brush against his arousal, the couch bumped the back of his knees. Surprised that he had been pushed so far into the apartment, he was very quickly grateful for it when she simply closed the distance again. When the paw that had been on his chest skimmed downward towards his more-than-eager length he danced back, ducking down until he fell onto the couch and out of her reach.

"Carrots, stop! What's gotten into you?"

The confusion at his rejection was obvious on her face for two or three seconds before her muzzle scrunched up and her ears dropped back. He wasn't ready for the tears that filled her eyes as her paws clenched at her sides. The array of emotions that he had seen pass through the bunny in the few minutes since he had opened the door made for one confused fox.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching up to swipe at the first tear that fell even as others spilled over to replace it. "I don't really know how to do this and I'm making a mess of things again."

"Do what?" he asked, his voice holding a little more demand that he meant it to. Seeing her in tears had him wanting to go to her so he could comfort her as her friend, but for the fact that he was still very naked, very hard, and had no way to cover himself. His gaze darted around the couch and he was at least partly relieved to see the black shirt he had worn after work that day haphazardly tossed over the back of it. He snatched it up and slipped it on, reaching down to button it as he focused his gaze on her again.

"Why are you so much better than me?" she cried, almost accusingly as she waved one paw towards him. The fact that he could make no sense in what she was saying made his paws stop before he managed to hook the first button. "You're a better mammal than I am without even trying to be."

"What are you talking about?" he shouted in reply, the little growl in his voice and the fact that he stood suddenly causing her to take a step back. Confused and frustrated, aroused and hopeful, worried and uncertain: having this mix of emotions running through him all at once amplified his reaction and rounded it back on anger. "You know that's not true. I don't even know what's going on here, Carrots!"

"Come on, Nick! You know exactly what I mean," she said, the momentary step back reversed by an aggressive step forward that put her almost toe to toe with him. The height of emotions was apparent in the fact that she didn't seem to notice that this had the tip his arousal brushing her shirt and he didn't care. "I came to this city wanting to be some paragon of understanding and the first thing I find is a fox who proves exactly how speciest I really was. And even when I'm sure I'm past that, when we became friends, I just managed to screw _that_ up royally. You were the one who saw it! And I promised myself when I got you back that I would never let something like it happen again. That I would be open and understanding and not blind to my own prejudice."

"So, I opened your eyes a little. That's just a great reason to stir me up before yelling at me when I'm naked in my own living room, Fluff," he said, rolling his eyes as he turned to head towards the bedroom. Now seemed like a good time to get dressed and head off the anger that continued to rise in the place of confused hurt.

"I'm not finished!" Though her words didn't stop him, he didn't get more than a few steps before she bounded in front of his bedroom door to block his path. Beautiful lavender eyes were angry now, rejected but needing to finish. Her face was set in the expression of determination that he had learned to respect. Because when she wore it, she always finished what she started. "I thought you opened my eyes only to have you prove me wrong again. My best friend. My partner. I didn't see you as more than that, wouldn't _let_ myself see you as more than that, because you're a fox and I'm a bunny. But you feel more, don't you? And I hurt you because I didn't let myself see it."

"Yes, I feel more! I love you!" he snarled as he took a step closer to her. Some part of him was jarred when she didn't pull away from him, standing her ground unflinchingly even when he bore the teeth of a predator. If anything she looked stunned and on the verge of crying again but that didn't stop him. "And yes, you hurt me! I'll just have to deal with that, because you can't control how you feel. And I am not going to let you come in here and try to seduce me because you think it will make things better. I'm in love with you, but I won't lose you because you don't feel the same!"

"But I do!" she cried as the tears spilled over again, her paws clutched in front of her chest as she rushed onward. Not that she really needed to: the sudden jack-knife in his chest had struck him dumb for the moment. "I didn't come here to seduce you, Nick. I just got caught up in… Well, you. I came here to tell you that I love you and to say that I'm sorry. I messed up again; I did the same blindly speciest thing again because I let myself believe that I was beyond it. You don't know how important you've become to me. And…"

"Wait, wait. Stop," he said, waving his paws in front of him for a moment before he placed one of them over his eyes as he processed the unbelievable. He took a deep breath before opening them to look down at the sniffling bunny, focusing his ears on her. He had to be sure to catch every word clearly this time. "Let's rewind to what you were saying before you started attacking yourself."

"I'm sorry," she said, rubbing at her cheek with the back of one paw as she held his eyes.

"No, before that."

"I didn't come here to seduce you?" This time she said it with a hint of a smile. A hopeful little smile that managed to be playful and watery at the same time. The teasing note in it had him resting his paws on his hips, an exasperated pose he had taken a dozen times in front of her. And in this case, the contact of paws on bare fur reminded him of his lack of pants.

"I'm standing naked in my living room in front of my partner and she's making jokes," he said, rubbing his paws over his face again with a sigh of mock exasperation before he looked at her over the tops of his fingers. "And don't think that part doesn't disappoint me. But after that."

"I…" she began and paused when she reached up to tug her ears to the side again. It was both incredibly cute and incredibly sexy the way she ran her paws down them shyly as she met his eyes. "I love you, Nick."

"Say it again," he said, taking a step closer to her and lowering himself to one knee so they were closer to eye level.

"I love you," she replied, releasing her ears to raise them as she took a step closer to him. One paw rose to rest on his chest again, this time intentionally resting over his heart as she raised her muzzle so that it was almost touching his. "And I'm s…"

"Stop," he interrupted, cupping her cheek in one paw so he could feel the silky fur against the pad of his palm. This time, there was no hesitation or fear that she might be afraid of the claws that came with it. It was impossible to think so when she tipped her muzzle into the paw, her eyes shining up at him as her own fingers curled into the fur of his chest. "I love you, too. And that means the rest of it doesn't matter anymore, right?"

"Right. But I am sorry I hurt you," she said quickly and even though there was truth in the words, he still rolled his eyes as his tail swept across the carpet behind him in a steady wag.

"Carrots?"

"Yeah?" she said, her voice dropping to a whisper as he leaned in close. Very close. He could feel the warmth of every breath that trembled out of her parted lips, and smelt something sweet lingering around her. Something feminine that called to him as a male and as a predator.

"Be quiet while I figure out how to kiss you," he murmured, the tip of his muzzle brushing over hers. A tilt of his head caused fur to touch fur as their muzzles came closer and he could feel the warmth of her tongue as it licked out over her lips. He snapped almost on instinct, catching the slick pink muscle with his lips as his paw moved to cup the back of her head to draw her closer. When she melted into him, not even hesitating to press the advance of her tongue when their lips met, he released a little groan in the back of his throat at the taste of her.

 _The kiss made it impossible to focus. The real world melted away, drawing him into a world of sensation and heat that robbed him of his ability to think clearly. He couldn't take any one sensation away from it because it was overwhelming. Hot. Lust driving out affection until there was nothing left but the base need to have her wrapped around his cock._

He found that some parts of the story were right and some parts were laughably wrong. He _could_ focus. In fact, he was hyper aware of everything about her. Maybe it was the predator being so close to prey, but his mind drank in and absorbed every second of the act of kissing her. The taste of her on his tongue when they met and tangled carefully; the way her tiny tongue curiously and fearlessly slicked over the length of his canines between breaths; the touch of her paws on his chest, fingers combing up through his fur until she was almost painfully gripping his shoulders; the roll of her hips when his paws slipped down to grip them. And the unbearable heat of her. It was like her temperature shot up the longer they kissed, so much so that he was panting by the time they broke apart for the first time.

"I lied," she whispered into the fur of his throat, a shock of lust and pleasure racing down his spine when she _bit_ him. Bit hard enough that aching tingles lingered where her larger front teeth gnawed on his skin. Slow breaths escaped her as heat into his fur, heat that came with mumbled words that had him hardening against her belly as she writhed against him. "I did come here to seduce you. God, you smell good."

Her actions and her words undid him. Every little fantasy he had lived in his mind where he was tender and gentle with her to show her that predators were capable of being careful lovers was crushed and scattered to the wind. Without thinking, he reached up to start the process of unbuttoning the front of her shirt. He ripped it open when his fingers couldn't move fast enough, sending buttons snapping and flying. It startled a laugh out of her, one that was cut off when he lowered his head and pressed his nose into the fur of her chest, nuzzling around until he found one pink nipple hidden under white fur. When his tongue lapped at it once, she moaned through clenched teeth. When he closed his teeth on the tiny bud lightly, a cry escaped her as she arched her back and gripped the back of his head - the sweet scent of her arousal thickening in the air around him.

"Nick, my pants," she groaned, the hitched stutter of her voice delighting him as much as her obvious need. His paws moved down to the front of her jeans without hesitation and found her paws already there, thank god, struggling with the button. He hooked two claws into belt loops on either side of her hips and, once the band loosened, yanked them down and off until they hit the floor. His next breath was thick with the scent of horny bunny, sweet and fragrant, causing his mouth to water even as he nuzzled his way across her chest in search of another nipple to tease. With paws that refused to be still, he did what he had dreamed of doing more times than he could count as she kicked the jeans away: he cupped the toned - but still so soft and perfect - cheeks of her rear in both paws, making her yelp and laugh breathlessly. Rather than pull away or protest, she pressed her hips back into the squeeze of his paws as her chest arched into his muzzle.

"Bedroom?" The single word a question that escaped him in a growl that made her shiver against him, made the muscles of her ass clench in his paws. It was almost enough to give him pause, worried that fear had caused her tension. It was a concern that was wiped away by her whimpered reply.

"Too far," she gasped and jumped up to wrap her legs around his hips while the paws on hers kept her aloft. "The wall's closer."

"I love you, Fluff," he laughed breathlessly, managing to drag himself to his feet again before stumbling over to the wall with her in tow.

Their mouths locked again when her back hit the wall, and she was just as ravenous as he was in taking what she wanted. Her paws gripped his ears to drag his head down to her, forcing his back to arch as she crushed her muzzle against his. The tangle of tongues was only a momentary distraction as she clenched her legs around his waist, urging him to move forward. The size difference between them required an adjustment. As one paw moved from her hips to her back to support her weight, a step back was taken; one that caused her paws to grip the front of his shirt as she glared up at him, daring him to stop. She stilled, even if she didn't relax her grip, when it allowed him to drag her hips down until the tip of his cock nestled against the hot entrance to her sex. Knowing she was aroused did not prepare him for the slick heat of her. Just that first nudge told him that she was soaked, tight, and eager. Nothing he had ever experienced compared to it when he nestled the tip against her, her hips bucking slightly as an unmistakable cry of pleasure escaped her.

"Oh fuck, Nick. You're huge," she whined, her eyes darting down the length of her torso to watch as the first inch was squeezed into her. The curse escaping her so easily startled him as much as it aroused him, and the words were more than a slight boost to the ego. Nor did it hurt his feelings when her tongue ran over her lips when she saw him, the heat in her gaze burning bright when she turned that gaze up to meet his. She tugged on his shirt. "I need it. All of it. I made myself cum before I came over here, imagining you on top of me. Your teeth were at the back of my neck, every inch of you inside of me. Your knot squeezing into me while your claws dug into my hips. And I need it to happen, Nick."

If her intention was to motivate him, she did one hell of a job. The need in her eyes matched the unwavering tone of her voice, even as she rolled her hips forward so that those first few precious inches slipped into the clenching heat of her body. The very idea of her alone in her apartment, thinking of him while she rocked her hips against her paw was all he needed. The next roll of her hips was met with a forward thrust of his, her cry all but drowned out by his growl when he drove his hips forward with far more force than he intended. It wasn't until his sheath was nestled against flushed outer lips and his sac rested against the white fur of her rear that he realized she was ripping his shirt in her attempt to pull him even closer. And she felt like heaven. A wet vice squeezing down on every inch of him until every throb ached with the need for him to continue. It made it easy for him to forget everything but the fact that he wanted her and she wanted him. Her small size, the fact that he was a predator and she was prey, any thoughts that she might fear him. All of it vanished when he drew his hips back and slammed into her again.

Her cries of pleasure were mingled with his hungry growls as his grip on her rear tightened, drawing her into every drive of his hips until the apartment was filled with the muffled sound of furred hips meeting furred hips. The tightening of her legs around his hips urged him not only to take her hard, but to stay inside of her. Keeping the thrust hard and quick and eager. Whatever plans he may have made for being tender were long forgotten as the need overcame them both. Every lusty fantasy he had indulged in was nothing compared to the fact that her hunger matched his own with every meeting of their bodies.

"Judy," he began, even now ready to warn her that he needed to pull out. He felt the pleasure rising, felt the tightening of his belly muscles as every pulse of his cock became more purposeful.

"I can feel it," she gasped, her head pressed back into the wall for a moment with a stunned look on her face before she shot forward and clamped her arms and legs around him. Even with her face buried into his chest and blood rushing through his ears, he could hear her clearly. "Don't stop! Don't you dare! So. _Close!"_

Feeling her small claws biting into the back of his shirt as she trembled and bucked her hips against him with renewed vigor almost cost him his balance. A balance that he regained by stepping forward and pressing her back fully against the wall as he obeyed her, driving his hips up into her until he felt the swell of his knot impede each thrust. Quicker, shorter thrusts increased the friction as the mass at the base of his length thickened, locking him inside of the exquisite heat of his mate and still swelling until the pleasure was almost painful.

"Oh God, I can feel every inch!" she babbled, her voice sounding lost between rapture and agony as her inner muscles squeezed down around him. "It's more than the knot. All of you is getting biggerrrr- _Argh!"_

That realm between pleasure and pain was one that he shared with her when her body froze and she came around him. She was so hot and wet, but also too tight. So tight that he couldn't move for a long moment as her sex bore down around him and made movement impossible. It was a blissful torment that prevented him from finding his own release even as his knot reached full size and every inch of crimson buried inside of her begged to join her. It wasn't until she tightened her grip on the back of his shirt and started to pump her hips up and down in a rhythm that his hips were compelled to match that he felt the friction return. It only took a few seconds from there before the ache became an intense tingle and that tingle became a throb of pleasure that caused his balls to tighten. He pressed into her firmly, shoving her back and pinning her against the wall as he humped himself into her as he fought his way through the most intense and needed orgasm of his life. Somewhere through it, as he pumped her already tightly packed body full of his seed, he lowered his head and clamped his teeth down on one long ear. It may have been love or simple instinct that prevented his teeth from breaking the skin, but her reaction was one even his lust clouded mind could remember.

It was easy to remember when a bite to the ear caused a female to cum again, after all.

Heavy breathing and trembling of bodies was all either one could manage for nearly a minute afterwards. Every throb of his length inside of her caused another little whimper to escape her, though he had long ago realized that these whimpers were pleasure rather than discomfort. When she moved again, it was simply to bury her nose into a patch of cream-colored chest fur exposed by the destruction of his shirt before she was still again. The little shocks of pleasure that came every time he released more of his need into her eventually caused his legs to wobble, forcing him to turn and lean against the wall as he slid down it to sit with her in his lap. Dazed green eyes looked down to watch her curl into him, looking as tiredly content as he had ever seen her with her chest resting against his chest and her eyes closed. For a minute, he believed that she had fallen asleep and took advantage of that fact to just look at her.

His eyes wandered her face for a long moment; soft pink lips that were just a little darker because of the rough kisses were parted by slightly uneven breaths; her eyes were closed with brows relaxed and wrinkling just a bit every now and then when his knot throbbed inside of her; long ears, one still damp and mussed from his bite, were relaxed and half-rested on his shoulder. She had been cute the first time he laid eyes on her, and remained cute to this day. But she was beautiful, too. So soft and lovely…

"How long do we stay like this?" she questioned without warning, jarring him out of his thoughts so suddenly that he jerked just a little. Her eyes opened, turning to him just as a lazy and pleased smile spread over her muzzle. He may even have heard a little moan slip out when the sight made him throb inside of her.

"It depends," he replied honestly, reached down to slide one paw down the length of her ears slowly. "Fifteen minutes to an…"

He paused a moment to let a growl out when she squeezed down around him deliciously, rolling her hips a bit in the process. The spark in her eyes made it clear that she was delighted to have caused him to briefly lose the power of speech.

"If you keep doing that, we're going to start all over again before it ever goes down," he commented, his paws sliding down her back to her butt. The little squeeze he gave around the base of her tail made her moan her way through a laugh before he smoothed his paws out to cup each cheek on one paw. She watched him intently and whimpered a little when the twitch of her tail, combined with holding that rather perfect rear in his paws, made him pulse thickly again.

"You like my butt?"

"I _love_ your butt," he replied honestly, flashing his teeth in a grin that had her smirking. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to watch you walk around in that tight blue uniform all day without reaching out to cop a feel? I want to bite it."

"Mm," she groaned a little, and he was surprised to feel her sex quiver around him as she reached up to slide her fingers along his muzzle. "I want you to bite it."

"Getting back to the previous question," he said, turning his muzzle to lap at her palm softly - to distract himself from the fact that he really did want to bite it. "Anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes is average."

"Good," she said, smiling a little dreamily as he passed another lick over her paw softly. "Are you always this affectionate after sex?"

He almost wanted to argue that it had been making love, but realized how sappy it sounded. Besides, what had just happened had been more about pent-up need and denied desire than love, even if love had been the spark that started it. "Really fantastic sex, yes. Yes, I am."

"Good," she mumbled, placing a kiss to his chest lightly before she placed her cheek over his heart. "I love you, Nick."

Staring down at her, hearing her say the words he had never believed he would hear her say outside of friendly banter, he felt a happiness sink in that he had never experienced before. He would make love to her tonight. Take her into his bed, start the slow and amazing process of learning what pleased her while letting her learn the same for him. He would show her that he could be gentle in passion as well as lusty and out of control. He would show her that he loved her, no matter what species they were.

"I love you, too, Judy," he replied softly, finding it mildly amusing that neither of them seemed inclined to mention the fact that his paws were still cupping her butt cheeks.

The sound of fireworks outside, and cheering and merriment from surrounding apartments, made them both aware of the dawning of the New Year. Judy raised her head as he glanced over at the wall clock, which showed midnight. Their eyes met, they both smiled, and - rather than the tradition of saying the words - they welcomed the New Year with a warm, languid kiss.

"This is a million times better than the book," she murmured against his mouth, drawing an absently dazed sound of agreement from him. It took a full minute before her words really struck him. A flush of embarrassment raced up the back of his neck and heated the inside of his ears, and it was a slightly fearful, entirely curious fox that looked down at her.

"Wait. What book?"

(Notes: As some are aware, my DA account has been suspended. It is a one month ban-hammer, and I accept it. If you are here from DA, welcome! If not, welcome

Feel free to leave a comment! I love comments. They are the lifeblood of the fanfiction world. Thanks for reading!)


End file.
